Pass or Fail

As the Manila heat climbed towards a sunny 32°C, students began the first official day carefully unboxing and reassembling their cars from crates before rolling them into the strict technical inspection area with its focus on safety and fairness. But who’ll get to go on track?

All about the tech

Today the 127 teams now onsite – marking the best Shell Eco-marathon Asia turnout ever - must begin to run the gauntlet of technical inspection. Before they are allowed on the track to compete, they must move through seven separate stations with many as 15 exacting tests, as dozens of visitors look on.

All aspects of cars are given a “pass” or “fail”, from a maximum turning radius of 8 m for Prototypes or 6 m for UrbanConcept cars – crucial for getting around corners and overtaking rivals – to visibility through the windscreen. One fail means a return to the paddock to make crucial changes, then re-joining the queue to try again.

“The biggest challenge for teams are the seatbelts and brakes because we’re so focused on safety and protecting the driver,” said Technical team member Adrian Juergens.

Safety harnesses must be fixed in five places and hold at least 1.5 times the weight of the driver. Two braking systems – one at the front, one at the rear – must each be able to hold the car steady on the test station ramp.

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After months working on their cars, teams at Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015 have to put all their efforts to pass strict technical inspection tests. Only after completing the tests, the cars are allowed to hit the track in Manila

First into the technical inspection is team Eco-Voyager from the University of Malaya with their battery electric Prototype car “Evora”, powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Last year they left the competition when part of the car fell off on-track.

Lying patiently inside the canoe-shaped, enclosed car is driver and mechanical engineering student Nadia Ahmad Hassan. Evora fails the seatbelt test because the buckle is wrongly attached. Only a minor change is needed, like most here today.

So far nobody has passed technical inspection.

The first UrbanConcept car into technical inspection is Symmetry 3.0 from local team TIP Mileage Proto of the Technological Institute of the Philippines. Engineering student Elvin Paul Barrameda explained that the team cut out and replaced sections of the car body to create wheel arches at the rear to satisfy a new rule this year. Symmetry 3.0 also failed on its seatbelt test, which had to be re-attached below shoulder height.

Teams get together for the traditional team photo at Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015. (Mike Alquinto/AP Images for Shell)

Waiting time ahead of the official team photo at Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2015. (Geric Cruz/AP Images for Shell)

A student runs some test in the paddock during day one of Shell Eco-marathon Asia in Manila, Philippines. (Geric Cruz/AP Images for Shell)

Diver of the Hyper Herformance Prototype, by team WithOut Limits from Higher Colleges of Technology - Ruwais (RUC), UAE. (Mark Cristino/AP Images for Shell)

Visitors engage with the salt water cars in Manila. (Mike Alquinto/AP Images for Shell)

Visitors engage with salt water cars in Manila. (Mike Alquinto/AP Images for Shell)

In search of foam

Also yet to undergo inspection is Team Abhijatrik from Ahsanullah University of Science & Technology in Bangladesh – a new country joining this year. They have just a wooden board for their UrbanConcept car’s seat and no suspension.

Team leader and driver KM Hasan Imam Shuvo would have absorbed all the vibrations from the track, but was more concerned about making the fibreglass and mild steel car too heavy. For his own wellbeing, he was told to wrap the board in foam. “We can fix this. No problem,” he said.

Off the track

While the students were queuing up for the technical inspections for their cars, visitors enjoyed exhibits and games, and experts and business leaders gathered in the nearby Manila Hotel for the Powering Progress Together forum. This year’s forum focused on how cities can become more resilient in the face of rapid growth and resource strains – a major concern in Asia.

The event featured interactive presentations, interviews and extensive panel discussions with speakers ranging from British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad, Shell’s country chairman for the Philippines, Edgar Chua, to Ms Saya Kitasei from international environmental advisory firm Xyntéo.